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Van Persie - Alkmaar are so unpredictable

By Richard Clarke

Robin van Persie does not know which AZ Alkmaar will turn up at Emirates Stadium for the Champions League tie on Wednesday night.

The Dutch champions gained an unlikely draw at the DSB Stadium a fortnight ago. Ronald Koeman’s side were outplayed for much of the Group H encounter but grabbed a last-gasp equaliser through David de Mendes Silva.

Arsenal can make amends this week with the return fixture in North London. Arsène Wenger’s side will ensure passage through to the Knockout Stages with a victory. Despite the first game, Van Persie is mindful.

“It is strange because they are playing in an unpredictable way,” said the striker before the weekend game with Spurs. “In the Dutch FA Cup they drew with an amateur side [in normal time] and only won in extra time. Last week they lost 4-2 to Ajax where they had a good first half and a very poor second half.

“So I don’t really know what to expect from them. But if we play our own game in our own stadium with our own fans backing us we have a good chance to win. If we do that, get ten points and basically we qualify.”

Copyright 2015 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source3 Nov 2009

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